Letters to the editor: April 5

NRA plan to arm schools is straight out of the Wild West

On the April 2 Opinions page was a political cartoon about the National Rifle Association - point being that the NRA as a lobbying group has members of Congress in their pocket. Seems to be true.

The next day, the J&C published a study by the NRA that suggests that schools should require members of their staff be trained in firearms use and carry a firearm at school for Newtown-type situations.

I find this thinking to be appalling, I am 78 years of age and grew up in a time period that even the thought of needing armed guards in school would have been looked on as ludicrous.

Maybe arming staff in schools is a solution some think would work, but who would volunteer? Just the fact that this person could possibly come face to face with a maniac armed to the teeth with an assault rifle does not fit the job description of most of the faculty.

Yes, the school shootings are terrible. Something needs to be done to safeguard the children. But I question this approach.

Gun possession by the wrong people in the United States has been out of control for a long time, and arming law-abiding citizens seems to be a coming trend as an answer to this problem. Are we becoming a nation that lives by the gun and dies by the gun? The old Wild West reborn? I hope not.

Harold T. Williams

Shadeland

At least try to sound objective on gay rights in reporting

If the J&C insists on being a propaganda machine for the organized homosexual movement, you might at least try to show some subtlety. Your so-called article (March 29) on a local "gay marriage" rally was nothing but a love song for those freaks.

Your editorial cartoons are even more ridiculous. One of them (March 29) attacked conservative Christian churches on this issue, mocking them for putting Christianity over evolution. I can't understand how your editors can be so ignorant. Plenty of Christian churches accept the theory of evolution - including the largest denomination of all, the Catholic Church.

Let's look at what the J&C is supporting. These "gay rights" agitators want to pollute the institution of marriage by applying it to unnatural unions, where the natural production of children is impossible. They're attempting to subvert democracy by using the Supreme Court to deny their 10th Amendment right to democratic rule.

For decades, they've infiltrated Christian churches, to pressure them to forsake biblical teachings against homosexual activity ("Gays vs. the Vatican," Time, Dec. 5, 1988). And once again, they're pressuring the Boy Scouts of America to allow homosexual Scoutmasters, which would turn the BSA into a homosexual hunting ground.

This is the type of self-centered, subversive mob that the Journal & Courier is supporting. Their entire program is inimical to religion and destructive to democracy. Why don't you try being an actual newspaper, instead of giving us toilet paper?